Stung by Apple's abandoning of Google Maps on iOS, Google (GOOG) says it will slash prices for high-volume access to its Maps API (previous) by 87%. Google is also staying committed to iOS via its own mapping apps, and is talking up the higher click rates obtained by new ad formats for its mobile maps. With mobile ads related to maps and locations accounting for an estimated 25% of mobile ad revenue, Google has plenty of incentive to invest heavily in this space.

My experience has been that the google maps service on iOS has lately been more and more inferior to google maps over a web browser. Data has been often incorrect or outdated. Not sure what the deal is but methinks goog handicapped their iOS service or just didn't pay it as much care and attention as the browser based ones where they can plant cookies and track you. In any case they have been asking for the break-up for some time. That or they saw it coming for some time. Their other services on iOS are prettty subpar. Somehow, I dont see that changing so long as apple and google are competitors.